Dost dost na raha

ONE can buy almost everything but no one can buy reputation—once it is gone, it is gone forever. This reflects the situation of Haryana’s Venod Sharma. He did everything to emerge as a political personality in the State, but no political party cared for him. The honeymoon between Sharma and the Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, seems to have ended. This is being seen as a key political development in the State. Both used to share the same bench in college in Chandigarh in their student days. They had family ties and very strong bonds but the three ‘Ws’ —wealth, wine and women—can spoil any relation. According to the grapevine, Hooda and Sharma are at loggerheads due to a misunderstanding over land and money distribution. Further, sources reveal that Asha bhabhi (Hooda’s wife) has lately started disliking Sharma because of his alleged nefarious activities. It is learnt that on a recent evening spent with Sharma, Hooda took some medicines worked on some parts of the body. The dose was so strong that it landed him in hospital. The whole Hooda family was worried about this friendship. The last straw came from Sharma himself when, after touring the whole state for five months, he organised a rally in Kurukshetra to announce his departure from the Congress party. But every other party too shut its doors to him. It can be said about Sharma: “Na khuda hi mila na visale sanam, na idhar ke rahe na udhar ke rahe (Neither did I meet God, nor my beloved; I was left stranded).”